That’s A Negative

(I am in a computer lab, working on a project.)

Classmate: “Hey, how come I can’t find any pictures of Cleopatra?”

(I look over at her monitor, and see plenty of pictures of busts and artwork of Cleopatra.)

Me: “It looks like you’ve got pictures of her there.”

Classmate: “No, I mean like, actual pictures.”

Me: “You mean photographs of Cleopatra? Taken with a camera?”

Classmate: “Yeah.”

Me: “There aren’t any. Cameras weren’t invented back then.”

Classmate: “They weren’t?”

Me: “No. Cleopatra lived thousands of years ago.”

Classmate: “Really?!”

Me: “Yeah.”

(To clarify for her, I look up Cleopatra on Wikipedia, and show her the date of birth and date of death.)

Me: “See? She was born in 69 BC, and died in 30 BC. That’s over 2000 years ago.”

Classmate: “Oh. Years went backwards?”